South America Travel

The only thing more magical than hiking through a jungle in the dark, following a path that must be made of white gravel because it glows faintly in the full moon, is hiking through a jungle in the dark past big black hills — blacker than the sky behind them, blacker than the trees that […]

Pan-American Transmissions: Part 11 “Pan-American Transmissions” is a travel series from Special Contributor Diego Cupolo as he travels south from Nicaragua to Argentina. He has few plans, a $10-a-day budget and one flute-playing gypsy companion. Check back as new dispatches are posted from the road. Pink flamingos wade through blood-red lagoons on a seemingly endless […]

Lake Atitlan in Guatemala — the 1.8-million-year-old 600-meter-deep volcanic lake located a couple hours from Guatemala City — is usually the highlight of anyone’s trip to the country, with its picturesque volcanoes towering over the lake, the small villages clustered along the shorelines and the chocolate shaman who seek spiritual enlightenment in cups of cocoa. The vagabond Canadian duo […]

“Oye chica! Tenga aca. Te invitamos!” Someone was calling to me as I walked by a makeshift tent on the side of the street in Oaxaca’s old center. Curious, I joined the speaker, a young Mexican man, as well as a few others, underneath their tent. They had set up a large folding table which, […]

Ever heard of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera? Me either, until I watched the above video from Andrew Julian who did a little test run of his new camera while on a trip to Mismaloya, a small village located just south of Puerto Vallarta. (Fun fact: parts of Predator were filmed nearby.) Besides setting you back […]

Two grueling hours of climbing through ashy volcanic dirt, each frustrating step taken, I slid backward half a step. We progressed slowly, rhythmically. Sergio, our Ecuadorian guide lead the way, with Stonie and I tagging along, bundled up in bright blue and red, wearing steel-toed boots, equipped with a light daypack and glacial-climbing equipment, our […]

The mist smells of banana leaves and wood smoke, the scent of the Guatemalan highlands when it rains. Mothers carry firewood on their heads and get knocked around by a downpour that’s like bowls of dirty water being thrown from the sky. Village children in hand-woven clothes hide under a tree and squeal as workers […]

Everyone’s favorite ex-Monty Python member turned traveler turned three-year term as president of the Royal Geographical Society, Michael Palin, is back with a new travel series, Brazil With Michael Palin, which recently began airing on the BBC, and hopefully coming to a local station (or Netflix) soon. Palin, who long ago could have rested on […]

The little-known secret that most tourists don’t know about and that many travelers like to keep to themselves is that fact that most of the best Caribbean Islands to visit are not those found in that linear line of islands stretching southward from Florida’s southern tip, but rather are found hundreds of miles away, dotting […]

With its grandiose architecture, beautiful people and downright gritty street scenes where all these elements come together, Buenos Aires is a city made for photography, and according to the founders of Foto-Ruta, there is no better way to tour Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital, than to do it through the lens of a camera. In what […]